Scan Furniture was a co-operative furniture chain that operated six stores in the metropolitan

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area selling modern

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

. Unusually, it was founded in 1938 as a grocery store in

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental ...

, which became the Greenbelt Cooperative in 1940. The

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

grew to include a gas station and furniture store. In 1984, the board of directors sold the grocery store and gas operations to concentrate on its Scan division. The grocery store remains a cooperative called the Greenbelt Consumers Cooperative. In 1978 Scan Furniture was the largest teak importer in the country and imported about $10 million worth of teak every year. It was based in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

, with a distribution center in Columbia. On December 19, 2007, Scan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a report in the Baltimore Business Journal. Its sales dropped $25 million to $17 million from 2005 to 2007, according to court papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore. The retailer cited declining revenue and an inability to borrow money as factors in its filing. Scan officials stated that the decreased sales were partly due to "the decline in the housing market and the loss of business as a result of other furniture retailers ceasing operation and liquidating inventories at deep discounts."

References

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External links

The Greenbelt Cooperative: Success and Decline
Furniture retailers of the United States Former cooperatives of the United States Greenbelt, Maryland Companies based in Rockville, Maryland American companies established in 1960 Retail companies established in 1960 Retail companies disestablished in 2007 1960 establishments in Maryland 2007 disestablishments in Maryland Defunct companies based in Maryland